Karachi sees spike in patrol, but robbers go about their daily business

Military, paramilitary and police officials have been patrolling the roads and streets of Karachi to ensure the implementation of the Sindh government’s lockdown orders as a preventive measure against the possible spread of COVID-19. However, there has apparently been no disruption in the criminal activities of muggers.

A case in point is the most recent incident in which Muhammad Waqar Bhatti, a senior staff member of The News, was deprived of his mobile phone in the city’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal neighbourhood.

“I went to Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 13-D with my wife for buying groceries,” said Bhatti. “My wife was buying them while I was waiting for her in the car when a solitary young man wearing a surgical mask approached my car on his motorbike.”

Bhatti said that the suspect pulled out a pistol from the pocket of his two-wheeler’s protective cover and put it against his head, adding that the young man demanded his mobile phone and wallet, threatening to shoot him if he failed to comply.

“He took my mobile phone but left the wallet because it was empty of cash,” explained Bhatti. “The suspect then easily fled the scene with my phone.”

Another case

The mugging was not the only incident to have occurred in the city during the current lockdown, as 10 shops of a mobile market in the Metroville area have been robbed despite the fact that security has been tightened and snap checking and patrol have been increased across the city.

Peerabad SHO Ashok Kumar, under whose jurisdiction the market falls, said a gang of five suspects arrived there in a pickup, adding that they broke the market’s lock to enter and looted cash, mobile phones and accessories from at least 10 shops.

The officer said the suspects severely beat up a watchman of the market when he attempted to foil the robbery, adding that the gang also bound the victim’s hands and feet with rope. The SHO admitted that the suspects easily managed to escape from the scene after the robbery. He said that a case has been registered and further investigation is under way.